Fall 1998 Section 1839 MWF3

Office: TUR 4332

email: craddoc@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu

phone: 392-0757x259

web page (copies of syllabus and useful web links): http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pcraddoc

Office Hours: T4, W3-5, AND BY APPOINTMENT

Required books: Altick, Victorian People and Ideas; Abrams et al., eds.,Norton Anthology of English Literature,Vol. II, sixth edition. You will also need a package of 3x5 index cards. Books are available at Goerings bookstore, University and 13th.

The goal of this course is to look at some of the exciting work written during the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) in two ways: in as close an approximation as we can achieve of the way in which its original readers would have understood and appreciated the work, and in terms of our own age: what this literature tells us that may be of permanent human value, or that may enable us to see something about ourselves that a modern perspective obscures. Omitting the novel, which is the focus of another course, we will concentrate on poetry and nonfictional prose, with some attention to drama. The dates on which assignments are listed below are the dates on which they are to be completed.

Your grade will be based on the following factors, each of which is explained in detail after the list of reading assignments and due dates for papers.
• Two critical papers: 25% each
• One historical paper: 25%
• Unannounced Reading quizzes: 15%. These will stress matters of fact.
• Class performance: 10%

Readings are to be Completed on the date listed. You may turn in the papers one class meeting after the date listed IF AND ONLY IF you can show that you have made some progress on the paper on the date listed. Extensions may be granted for good reasons. Rewrites are welcome, and I will gladly discuss drafts with you. PLAGIARISM is intolerable; the minimum penalty for plagiarized work, or any other form of academic dishonesty, will be a 0 on the assignment. Since an F is averaged as not less than 50, the numerical advantages of doing your own work should be obvious.

August

W 22 Introduction--the Victorian age, course requirements.

F 24 How to analyze poems, essays, plays. Those who miss this class meeting owing to late registration should see me for extra help if they are inexperienced in dealing with any of these literary forms.

M27  Read Altick, pp. 1-33; Norton 891-908. To discuss: similarities and differences between these two introductions to the "same" age. What is a historical and/or literary "age"?

W 29 Carlyle, Introduction (910-915), Portraits of contemporaries and Characteristics (915-32)

F31 Newman, Introduction and excerpts from The Idea of a University (974-982)

September
M 3 LABOR DAY

W 5 Altick, pp. 33-72

F 7 Carlyle, The French Revolution and Past and Present, 958-974

M 10 Mill, 992-1029

W 12 Victorian Issues: The Woman Question 1595-1609

F 14 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1029-34; 1048-1052

M 17  Barrett Browning Aurora Leigh excerpts, 1034-48; Tennyson, The Princess excerpt on pp 1083-84

W 19 Altick 73-113

F 21 Tennyson, Introduction; stories and songs 1052-83, 1133-40; "Poems in Progress " 2457-2459
 
M 24 Complete discussion of Tennyson assignment.

W 26  Altick 114-64

F 28  Tennyson, In Memoriam 1084-1132

October

M 1  Tennyson, "The Passing of Arthur," 1154-65; "Crossing the Bar" 1169-70

W 3 Victorian Issues: Evolution 1571-1580; First Paper due

F 5 Arnold, Culture and Anarchy 1404-10, "Literature and Science,"1429-41;

M 8  T. H. Huxley 1442-53

W 10 Altick 165-200

F12  Robert Browning, 1182-1200, 1202-1211

M 15 Complete discussion of Browning assignment.

W 17 Altick 201-37

F 19 R. Browning, 1211-19, 1222-33, 1234-41, 1243-53

M 22 Complete discussion of Browning assignment

W 24 Altick 238-68

F 26 Emily Bronte, 1266-73;

M 29 Christina Rossetti, 1472-1493

W 31 Altick 269-98 Second Paper due
 

November

F 2 HOMECOMING--No Class.

M 5 Arnold 1344-67

W 7 Arnold 1379-1404

F 9 Altick 299-309

M 12  HOLIDAY

W 14  Victorian Question: Industrialism 1580-94

F 16 Meredith 1453-60

M 19 DG Rossetti 1460-72

W 21 Criticism as art: Ruskin, 1273-98; Pater, 1526-34; Wilde, 1616-18; 1620-28

F 23 HOLIDAY

M 26  Morris, 1494-1503, 1507-9;

W 28  Swinburne, 1509-12; 1514-19

F 30 The Importance of Being Earnest, 1628-67.

December
M 3 Hopkins, 1543-53 ; Last Paper Due

W 5  Shaw, 1711-54, Mrs. Warren's Profession. LAST CLASS MEETING

F 7  Last day to turn in projects and rewrites--NOT A CLASS DAY. Good luck with exams; happy holidays.

PAPER TOPICS (you may do the critical papers and the historical paper in any order).

CRITICAL  PAPERS

• Topic A: Victorian poets had very strong views about the relationship between form and meaning. Choosing two different poems we have read this semester, either both by the same poet or by different poets (sections of In Memoriam count as separate poems), analyze the ways in which specific formal qualities of the poems enhance and support the meaning and emotional effects they are designed to convey. If these instructions mean little or nothing to you, DON'T GUESS--come see me. If you would like to discuss a poem or poet that is in the Norton but was not assigned, that's probably okay, but check with me to be sure. Note that when discussing two or more poems, you still need to write one whole paper, not two half papers with little or no connection between them. Again, if this instruction doesn't mean much to you, SEE ME.
• Topic B: Discuss the merits and defects of some work or works we have read this semester (other than the one you use for topic A), in two ways: the way it would have appeared to you, had you been living at the time the work was published; and the way it appears to you now. Account for the similarities and differences between these two responses. This is an opinion paper so far as the continuing value or loss of value of the work is concerned, but it is essential that your claims about what would have been thought of it at the time BE BASED ON EVERYTHING you have read in the course, not on the vague assumptions about what is "Victorian" that you came into the course with. NOTE: brief excerpts included in the sections called "Victorian Questions" in Norton are NOT "works we have read this semester." You may write about one of these works ONLY IF you read the whole thing.

• A. Investigate some aspect of Victorian life such as advertising, popular amusements, the Irish Famine, marriage laws, servants, education, fashions, medicine, foreign missionaries--anything that interests you. Write a research paper about your results for an audience of students like yourself. N.B. select and cite your sources carefully; try to include some primary resources, such as articles from Victorian newspapers and journals, letters and diaries of Victorian people, published reports of Parliamentary debates and investigations, etc. Note: this paper, like any report of a factual investigation, must be properly documented and include arguments based on factual evidence. A mere list of facts is not a research paper; neither is a bunch of opinions, whether your own or those of books you have consulted. It is essential to include both information and conclusions about that information, with careful indication of the relationship between them. Notice that good information comes from two sources: (1) documents written at the time being studied and based on the writer's own knowledge (primary sources) and (2) investigations of such documents and evidence by qualified authorities in the field (secondary sources). If you use secondary sources, whether books or electronic, be sure the authors know what they are talking about and that the information is not out of date. Again, if these instructions do not make sense to you, SEE ME.

• B. Write a descriptive and evaluative review of a twentieth-century work that attempts to reconstruct life in Victorian Britain, such as the novels of A.S. Byett, one of several series of detective novels (Elizabeth Peters' novels about Victorian archaeologist Amelia Peabody Emerson are hilarious), films such as Angels and Insects. Consider what a writer or film-maker may accomplish by setting his/her work in a past era, and why the Victorian period might have been chosen. It will be essential to use what you have learned about Victorian life and thought in this course in writing this paper; don't revert to making assertions about what was "Victorian" that were simply your vague ideas before you took the course. NOTE: Films based on Victorian novels do not count, but a film of a novel by a twentieth-century author that was set in Victorian Britain, such as The French Lieutenant's Woman, would count, as would the novel without the film.


CLASS PERFORMANCE (ATTENDANCE CARDS). Class preparation and attendance count 10% of your grade in the course. Everyone starts with a 50 in class performance. At every class meeting you will turn in a 3x5 index card giving your name and the date.  You get 1 point for doing so.  In addition, if you choose to add a comment or question about the reading assigned for that class, you will receive an additional point if what you say on the card shows that you have actually been reading and thi On this card, in addition to your name and the date, you will state how far you have gotten with the assigned reading. There is no penalty for being behind in the reading. If you are absent (unless the absence is excused), or fail to turn in a card, you will LOSE 4 points from the 70 you started with. You may add a comment or question on what you have just been reading, if you are caught up. Comments or questions on current work will receive 1 or 2 points, depending on quality. Since there are 42 class meetings on which you might turn in a card, you can gain maximum credit for this part of the course simply by keeping up with the reading, coming to class, and putting a question or comment on your card. If necessary, you may earn additional points for point projects, described below.

Point Projects
You may earn 1-5 points, roughly proportional to the amount of work required, for short projects.
• Typical one-point projects: identify a useful book, article, or website and supply that information to the class on a 3x5 card; sufficient information must be supplied so that the other students can find the material.
• Typical two-three points projects: write a short summary of a relevant article or encyclopedia entry. Your account must be in your own words and must not be more than 100 words long. Another project is to choose a year from within the period we are studying and list the five most important events of that year that are not already mentioned in Altick's timeline.
• Typical three-five point projects: write a 1-2 page report on some aspect of daily life in the Victorian period--clothes, food, art, politics, factories, etc.--or a 1-page summary comment about a scholarly book dealing with the period or authors we are studying, or a 1-2 page review of a Victorian work we have not read, or of which we have only read part. Or a group might prepare and perform a selection from one of the two playwrights we will read at the end of the semester.